Mind of Snaps - Positivity Podcast | Ep. 33 - "Surround Yourself w/ Positivity & Love"

Welcome to "Surround Yourself w/ Positivity & Love" - the 33rd Episode of the Mind of Snaps Positivity Podcast!

This is a special podcast series that is separate from the regular Mind of Snaps Podcast, with a new release (typically) posted every Thursday for Patreon supporters!

It is my goal to create as much positive & encouraging content as I can during these intense, uncertain times we're faced with. 2020 has been so much more than anyone expected it to be, and nobody should have to take it on alone. The only way I can continue to do so, is with your help. Become a patron, subscribe to me on Twitch, you can send a tip which I'll turn into an investment... or you can simply share my content on social media. Every little bit helps me be able to continue to create the podcasts and other mindfulness & positivity based content in the future.

The format of these podcasts are forever evolving to reflect current events from personal to global, so I hope you are enjoying them. Please reach out to me if you have any suggestions!

Hang in there, friends... we're all in this together.

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Make sure to become a patron on Patreon to support future content!

You can find new Positivity Podcasts on Patreon every Monday, and as of September 2020 - every Thursday on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, & Stitcher!

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Jessy (Mind Of Snaps / SheSnaps)

www.MindofSnaps.com

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Transcript

Unknown Speaker : 0:00

Hello, Happy Monday. I hope that you're all doing well, and that your Mondays are starting off on a good note, despite all of the craziness that is our world right now. I'd like to start out this week by again, thanking all of you for helping to support this Patreon and the stream through the tips, bits and all of the subscriptions. It genuinely helps so very much. I've realized that what we all desperately need right now is more calm and rational voices in our lives. So I'm going to continue to work hard every day to be one of those voices for you. So Your support helps me to have the freedom and flexibility to do that to create more content. And I sincerely appreciate all of you. We are still on for our video chat discussion, which is scheduled for Saturday at 1pm Central time. If you would like to participate in this Please send me a DM that indicates as much on discord just like a quick Hey, I want to be a part of the video chat on Saturday message is fine. And then I'll add you to my list. As soon as I know how many will have participating, I can figure out the best way we can conduct the call, it might be something we can do through Discord. Right now it's kind of looking like zoom meetings is probably best, but we'll figure that out this week, I would still really love to be able to discuss the book Who Moved My Cheese with y'all. And especially now I feel like the book is just, it's short and it's so impactful. So if you have the ability to find it online and download it or order it, please do so. If we don't have enough folks who have read it to discuss during the call, then I'll set up another and we'll hopefully be able to do it then. Otherwise, maybe we'll do it in like a chat in discord or something but read it. It will be a part of the video chats in the future and the video chats are going to be a monthly thing anyway Anything,

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relax any

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of that tension building up and your shoulders, your hands, your forehead, your jaw,

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take a nice deep breath okay?

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You're gonna probably hear some puppies click clacking around in here and you're gonna have to deal with it will be. Anyway. Anyway. Anyway, let's get started with what I wanted to talk to you about today. As these podcasts have evolved over time, I've begun getting into the habit of issuing weekly challenges seal and I really enjoy hearing back from you about what worked for you What didn't what you learned all of that. So this week, I have two distinct challenges for you to tackle. To start things off, go and get yourself into a nice peaceful state of mind. This may be best to try when you're fresh after waking up or after a nice long meditation. Get yourself to a point where you feel pretty good or at least neutral you know you don't feel bad. Then set a timer for five minutes and walk The news, any channel, but you know if you watch the news, whatever you normally prefer is probably best. After the timer goes off, turn it off. And then sit still and pay attention to your thoughts. Repeat, repeat the process of becoming neutral or positive. And then set the timer for five minutes and go on social media sites this time, like Facebook or Twitter or whatever. Just scroll do your normal thing. When the timer goes off, check in with yourself. Pay attention to the thoughts that you're having. What you will most likely notice is exactly what I noticed when I did this though I only did it for social media, not the news. I was in a great mood feeling strong, healthy, excited for the day. I had meditated. I was feeling peaceful. Like I was fucking ready in a great mood. Set a timer hopped online onto Twitter, which is normally like one of my favorite places and I just scrolled For only five fucking minutes I scrolled when the timer went off. I felt like I had been awoken from a horrible fucking nightmare. I should have paid attention to my heart rate before and after, because it sure felt like it rose. After the timer sounded. I sat still for a little bit and then I just paid attention to what was going on in my mind and in my body. What an eye opener. I had started that day feeling healthy and joyful. And suddenly I started to feel like I was coming down with something legit. My heart felt like it was racing, I noticed tightness in my chest, I started to feel almost queasy and was overwhelmingly uncomfortable. I had also started the day feeling you know, strong and joyful, ready to tackle whatever this life brings on. I had a pretty quiet mind. It was mostly chill neutral now. Holy shit, this brain was poppin off My thoughts had begun racing, to my friends and family to my own health to a fucking zombie apocalypse everywhere they should not be. I think it's safe to say I was moments away from a feeling panicked, rather than just noticing tons of anxious thoughts and bodily sensations, right? So I wound up having to take

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even more time

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to regain my control over myself to get myself to a relaxed state of mind again, it seriously took a decent amount of concentrated effort for me to let go have all the shit that I had consumed in only five minutes of social media access. I had already stopped watching the news years ago when I realized it was hurting me more than helping, so I just didn't even bother after the first five minute exercise. for five minutes of scrolling, I probably had to put in another 30 to 45 minutes of work, just to get back to sleep. neutral, not great, not terrible, but just decent. Things are serious right now friends. And I'm definitely not suggesting that you bury your head in the sand and try to pretend Everything is fine. That's not that's not what I'm suggesting. What I'm advocating for is that you work to keep yourself in a good state of mind, so that you can feel capable of tackling whatever challenges come your way. We are all likely to deal with some tough times ahead. But that's not new to us as conscious beings. I think we've discussed previously the differences between pain and suffering. Pain is a part of life, but what we tend to do is put ourselves through suffering before the pain even hits us. And then we remain in that state of suffering after because we don't give ourselves an opportunity to breathe and recognize that pain is a part of our human experience. If you are upset that things aren't perfect, that's where to start with your feelings of being upset, not with the external world. Learn to manage your internal state. This will be so important to us as we move forward. People are scared. We have a unique opportunity to be the calm and rational voices they need. We can speak calmly, compassionately, and confidently to help people remember that we will all be doing our part to get through this together. I know our tendency to want to contribute to conversations in a meaningful way is strong. But please limit the amount of negativity you share moving forward. Even the little things matter here. Listen to this quote from the book words can change your brain. The moment a person expresses even the slightest degree of negativity. It increases negativity in both the speakers and listeners brains. Instead of getting rid of anger, we increase it. And this can over time cause irreparable damage not only to relationships but to the brain as well. It can interfere with memory storage and cognitive accuracy, and it can disrupt your ability to properly evaluate and respond to social situations. It interferes with making rational decisions, and you're more likely to feel prejudice towards others. What makes anger particularly dangerous, is that it blinds you even to the fact that you're angry. Thus, it gives you a false sense of certainty, confidence and optimism. Now, this quote is obviously referencing anger specifically, but replace anger with sadness, bitterness, anxiety, fear, whatever The more we voice those things and share them with others, the more it can hurt us and them. Another quote following up to the previous one in the book, research shows that the best way to deal with negativity is to observe it inwardly. Without reaction and without judgment. The next step is to consciously reframe each negative feeling and thought by shaping it into a positive, compassionate and solution based direction. As the esteemed psychologist Barbara Fredrickson has demonstrated, it is important to generate a minimum of three to five positive thoughts in response to every negative reaction you have. So this is how we can help others. When we notice things going in negative direction let's refocus ourselves and them on gratitude on optimism unloved, compassion on action. We do not want to put them down for being Negative or make them feel like they've done something wrong. It is important to speak up when you're having a hard time and you don't know what to do. But now we know how to respond. Okay, so let's remind ourselves and those that we love, that keeping ourselves in a negative state of mind impacts every single thing we do.

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So my next challenge to you is to think about your upcoming week. Think of ways to limit your time on sites, or on shows that put you into a rough state of mind. delete those fucking apps, unplug your cable box

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to stick to Netflix or Hulu or whatever.

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Pay close attention to your language and your thoughts. Simply verbalizing a negative thought can cause the impact of that thought to be amplified drastically. Now is the time to build up a more positive bias. start leaning head heavily into telling yourself how smart and how strong you are. And remind yourself that you as a human are insanely fucking adaptable. With your mindset managed, you can be in the position you need to be in to tackle whatever comes your way. We want access to the full resources of our minds and bodies. We need those healthy immune systems those Healthy Minds those strong bodies, remember shades, sleep hydration, air diet, exercise stillness.

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This week, watch some comedies,

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I highly recommend Letterkenny on Hulu. indulgence silly stuff, try new creative hobbies, read books do self care at home. When you have a free moment, stop and get yourself up hard. There is no such thing as too much kindness or too much compassion for yourself. Remember, in that same way that scrolling for five minutes or watching a shitty news program likely got you're feeling stressed and frustrated? The inverse of that can help you stay feeling strong and optimistic. I promise my friends, you are not alone in this. You have a community that cares. We are here for you and we will continue to be here for each other.

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Take a few deep breaths

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right now. Then make a list of ways you can manage your mindset in the coming week. Who got this much love to all of you manifest some dope shit now and remember to lead with compassion.